Alexander BarkoffDiscreetly Mine, right, ridden by Javier Castellano, turns for home en route to winning the Risen Star Stakes at the Fair Gounds. The race was the final stakes prep for the Louisiana Derby, which is today at the Fair Grounds.

Those trainers, all running horses in the Louisiana Derby today, have several Kentucky Derby hopefuls to manage – and multiple decisions to make along the way.

Pletcher has sent Risen Star winner Discreetly Mine back to the Fair Grounds for the Louisiana Derby and also is running Mission Impazible in the race. Last weekend, Pletcher finished third in the Florida Derby with Rule. Next weekend, Pletcher will run Eskendereya in the Wood Memorial.

Zito is running Fly Down in the Louisiana Derby. Zito won the Florida Derby with Ice Box and will be running Jackson Bend in the Wood.

Baffert is running The Program in the Louisiana Derby. On Sunday, Baffert will be running Conveyance in the Sunland Derby. Also, Baffert has to decide what to do with Lookin At Lucky, who was the champion 2-year-old last year and who began his run toward Churchill Downs with a victory in the Rebel.

Lukas is running Wow Wow Wow in the Louisiana Derby and also today is running Northern Giant in the Lane’s End. Lukas’ most accomplished 3-year-old is Dublin, who is headed to the Arkansas Derby.

Kentucky Derby history has many examples of so-called second-stringers winning the Derby. In 1984, for instance, trainer Wood Stephens promoted Devil’s Bag as the best 3-year-old in the country, not just in Stephens’ barn. He didn’t make the Kentucky Derby, but Stephens won it anyhow, with Swale.

“We really don’t try to rank them,’’ Pletcher said of his Derby hopefuls. “We’re trying to do what we think suits each horse the best – the best timing, the best surface. We’re happy to have more than one in that situation.’’

It was no surprise that Pletcher chose the Louisiana Derby for Discreetly Mine. After all, he showed in the mile-and-a-sixteenth Risen Star, his first two-turn race, that he can handle the Fair Grounds track. Today, Discreetly Mine will be tested at a mile and an eighth, and Pletcher is confident that the extra distance won’t be too much for the colt.

“This colt all winter has trained really well,’’ Pletcher said. “His breeze here Sunday (at Palm Meadows in Florida) was lights out. He galloped out well. He gives you a lot of confidence he wants to run a distance of ground.’’

Discreetly Mine got away with setting a crawling pace in the Risen Star. Pletcher said he doesn’t think the colt needs such a set-up. “I really think he’ll run better with a target in front of him,’’ he said. “He was just looking around so much.’’

On Feb. 20, the day of the Risen Star, Mission Impazible finished fourth in the one-mile Southwest at Oaklawn Park. He broke from the No. 10 post position in a field of 10.

“This horse ran a deceptively good race in the Southwest,’’ Pletcher said. “He was always wide, always being chased, never was able to get into a rhythm. What I like is, he hung around.’’

Baffet does differentiate between A and B teams of 3-year-olds. In 1998, his A team was Real Quiet and Indian Charlie. Real Quiet won the Kentucky Derby, and Indian Charlie finished third. This year, at least for now, Lookin At Lucky and Conveyance are the only horses on Baffert’s A team.

The Program “is B team right now,’’ Baffert said. “He needs to step it up. I want him to move to the A team. If he wants to go to the traveling squad to Kentucky, he needs to run well (at the Fair Grounds). He has a lot of talent, but he’s a difficult horse. He plays around a lot, but he’s steady.’’

The Program, coming off a third-place finish in the Sham at Santa Anita, has raced only on synthetic surfaces in California. “I’m trying to find a softer spot than California,’’ Baffert said.

“You move him around. What I’m trying to do is get his confidence level up, see if he fits on dirt.’’

Zito said he treats all his horses the same, “even the $10,000 claimers.’’

When planning racing schedules for Derby hopefuls, he said he tries to avoid running entries – more than one horse with the same owner – in a prep race. “I think if you can avoid that, you’re better off,’’ he said.

“The thing about this Derby stuff now, everybody wants to do it. You have to qualify with money. Before, you could qualify with horses. Now, you have to qualify with the horse and the money.’’ Zito was referring to graded-stakes earnings. A horse might show that he’s talented enough to run in the Kentucky Derby, but if his graded earnings aren’t sufficient, he might not get into the field. Only 20 horses are allowed to run in the Derby. If more than 20 are entered, they are ranked by graded earnings, and the top 20 get in.

Fly Down, who has won two of three starts, isn’t on the graded-earnings list. That’s because the Louisiana Derby will be his first stakes race. He’s coming off a victory in a mile-and-an-eighth allowance victory at Gulfstream Park in his first start as a 3-year-old.

In 1996, Lukas became the first trainer to run five horses in the Kentucky Derby. He has had multiple entrants in the Derby 11 times.

“You have to understand how difficult it is to get one in,’’ Lukas said. “Most of my clientele (owners) realize how hard it is to get one in. If you get two in, all the better. You look at each one individually, and you blot out that you have one in the stall next to him.’’

Wow Wow Wow, a long shot today, ran twice at Fair Grounds early this season, before Lukas sent his New Orleans-based horses to Oaklawn. The colt is coming off an eighth-place finish in the Gotham. “I think he’ll run a big one,’’ Lukas said. “He’s getting seasoned. He’s got a lot of talent.’’

The other invaders for the race, both from Florida, are Drosselmeyer, trained by Bill Mott, and A Little Warm, trained by Tony Dutrow.

Drosselmeyer finished fourth in the Risen Star in his stakes debut. “He seems more alert,’’ said Mike Kaetzel, Mott’s assistant at the Fair Grounds. “Last time it was a three-week break (between Drosselmeyer’s races). This time it’s five.’’

A Little Warm, coming off a second-place finish behind D’Funnybone in the seven-furlong Hutcheson, will be racing around two turns for the first time.

“I don’t know how A Little Warm will perform at two turns,’’ Dutrow said. “I don’t know. He is a quality horse. He’s proved he’s a quality horse. It’s just that time of year when people hope their horse is a classic type of 3-year-old.’’